New functional materials and expanded portfolio for 3D printing

Materials manufacturer Covestro will introduce several new functional materials and showcase its functional materials portfolio for multiple 3D printing technologies at Formnext 2021 from November 16-19 in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. On display will be key applications in materials from its expanded portfolio following the recent additive manufacturing business acquisition, including its established Somos^® resins and engineering-grade thermoplastics.

Functional material solutions - meeting the needs of multiple end markets - that will be introduced and displayed at Formnext 2021 include:

• New powder materials for selective laser sintering (SLS), high speed sintering (HSS), and new filaments for fused deposition modeling (FDM)
• E-Perform™ optimized for EnvisionTEC's equipment, bringing the benefits of Somos^® PerFORM to a faster and more economical printer technology, released at RAPID + TCT in September
• Somos^® PerFORM HW, the DLP/LCD version of their industry-leading SLA resin Somos® PerFORM, including proven post-processing solutions developed with automated resin removal technology from PostProcess Technologies Inc.
• Somos^® WaterShed AF, the new launched stereolithography resin that simplifies 3D printing investment casting patterns
• Low Smoke filament PA6/66-GF20 FR LS, whose certifications for flame, smoke and toxicity (FST) and easy printing make it a popular flame retardant material in the railway industry; the filament is part of the filament business acquisition mid 2020
• Proven material-machine solutions for PBT printing with Farsoon
• Digital tools for scaling additive manufacturing, including the anisotropic design optimization software launched with ParaMatters at RAPID+TCT, and a virtual AM expert which helps customers navigate brand-agnostic AM solutions for their applications.

The booth will feature applications for the automotive and transportation, sports and lifestyle, industrial, electronics, and medical industries printed in a variety of Covestro's materials for stereolithography, fused filament fabrication, fused granulate fabrication (pellet printing), DLP/LCD 3D printing and powder bed fusion.

Focusing on functional materials, industry experts will be at the booth discussing the current state of engineering-grade materials in the industry, various test methods developed by industry groups to replicate application conditions in vertical markets, and how Covestro continues to develop truly functional 3D printing solutions.

Hugo da Silva, Head of Additive Manufacturing at Covestro commented: "Everybody across the AM value chain recognizes that industrial AM will only occur if and when manufacturers have the functional materials that bring the required properties to their components. We are excited to attend a physical Formnext event and show what our two bright teams have been working on in the past two years."

Visit Covestro at booth C11 in Hall 12.1. Start early and learn more about our solutions on our Formnext web page.